Dire — Meaning, Definition & Synonyms

Dire (adjective) — Senses, Synonyms & Antonyms

1. being or showing a sign of evil or calamity to come

   "a dire forecast of a plunge in stock prices"

   similar: baleful, direful, doomy, foreboding, ill, ill-boding, inauspicious, menacing, minatory, ominous, portentous, sinister, threatening
   related: black, bleak, cheerless, chill, Cimmerian, cloudy, cold, comfortless, dark, darkening, depressing, depressive, desolate, dim, disconsolate, dismal, drear, dreary, dreich (chiefly Scottish), elegiac, forlorn, funereal, gloomy, glum, godforsaken, gray, lonely, lonesome, lugubrious, miserable, morbid, morose, murky, plutonian, saturnine, sepulchral, somber, sullen, sunless, tenebrific, tenebrous, wretched, discouraging, disheartening, hopeless, unfavorable, unpromising, unpropitious, ill-fated, ill-starred, star-crossed, troubled, unfortunate, unlucky, evil, malign, malignant
   opposite: unthreatening
   near: auspicious, benign, bright, encouraging, favorable, golden, heartening, hopeful, promising, propitious, prosperous

2. causing fear

   "a series of dire tremors that hinted at a huge volcanic eruption"

   similar: alarming, direful, dread, dreadful, fearful, fearsome, forbidding, formidable, frightening, frightful, ghastly, hair-raising, horrendous, horrible, horrifying, intimidating, redoubtable, scary, shocking, spine-chilling, terrible, terrifying
   related: daunting, demoralizing, disconcerting, discouraging, dismaying, disquieting, distressing, disturbing, perturbing, startling, threatening, troubling, trying, unnerving, bone-chilling, creepy, eerie, weird, appalling, atrocious, awful, grisly, gruesome, hideous, horrid, macabre, monstrous, nightmarish
   near: calming, comforting, consoling, inviting, lulling, pacifying, quieting, reassuring, relaxing, soothing, tranquilizing, nonintimidating, nonthreatening

3. needing immediate attention

   "a dire need for food and medicine in the famine-stricken country"

   similar: acute, burning, clamant, compelling, critical, crying, emergent, exigent, imperative, imperious, importunate, instant, necessitous, pressing, urgent
   related: demanding, extreme, immediate, insistent, intense, overriding, crucial, desperate, grave, life-and-death, serious, severe, vital, dangerous, explosive, hazardous, perilous, precarious, unstable
   opposite: noncritical, nonurgent
   near: incidental, low-pressure, minor, negligible, trivial, unimportant, nonthreatening, safe, stable

4. causing or marked by an atmosphere lacking in cheer

   "with stock prices steadily falling, these are dire days on the trading floor"

   similar: black, bleak, cheerless, chill, Cimmerian, cloudy, cold, comfortless, dark, darkening, depressing, depressive, desolate, disconsolate, dismal, drear, dreary, dreich (chiefly Scottish), elegiac, forlorn, funereal, gloomy, glum, godforsaken, gray, lonely, lonesome, lugubrious, miserable, morbid, morose, murky, plutonian, saturnine, sepulchral, solemn, somber, sullen, sunless, tenebrific, tenebrous, wretched
   related: blue, dejected, depressed, despondent, down, droopy, hangdog, inconsolable, low, melancholic, melancholy, mirthless, sad, unhappy, woebegone, woeful, dim, discomfiting, discouraging, disheartening, dismaying, dispiriting, distressful, distressing, upsetting, desperate, hopeless, pessimistic, lamentable, mournful, plaintive, sorrowful, colorless, drab, dull, dour, grim, lowering, lowery, menacing, negative, oppressive, threatening
   opposite: bright, cheerful, cheering, cheery, comforting, cordial, festive, friendly, gay, heartwarming, sunshiny
   near: blithe, blithesome, buoyant, gay, jocund, jolly, joyful, joyous, merry, mirthful, encouraging, hopeful, optimistic, lighthearted, lightsome